Incredible, nobody here has said a word about this wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL pianist! Fantastic technique, great musician, she deserves much more attention!!!
Charles Rosen wrote that the accompaniment to this song is one of the hardest pieces for pianists in the romantic repertoire. On a piano with a Viennese action, it may have been easier, but given that we accompanists don't have period instruments, he made a valid point, I think.
Her voice sounds like the taste of melted dark chocolate and I love it! If velvet could sing, it would sound like Ms. Beal. And I love her little smile at the end :D
My God,what a voice! And a genuine contralto,not a mezzo. What a loss for us opera lovers when this absolutely superb singer retired at a young age to raise a family.But its great that we have these old film clips to truly appreciate her voice. Grazie mille for sharing this with us.
no, its a Mezzo! Its not low, she just uses her well developped chest voice, she was really a great singer but not a real contralto. Like Ferrier was NEVER a true contralto, by the way, technically Beal is much better than Ferrier. Muffled and woofy and no high notes does not mean one is a contralto.
@@contraltissima saying Ferrier had a bad technique and wasn't a contralto It's like saying Bach wasn't a good musician and he couldn't play clavicembalo, it's nonsense but nowadays on UA-cam you can read anything, everybody is an expert
@@contraltissimaIs it not possible for a contralto to have well developed mixed/head voice? The other legendary contraltos of the golden age had well developed upper registers, like Marian Anderson and Madamme Ernestine Schumann-Heink.
So true. I accidentally heard a recording when living in the Chicago area where there was an arts Channel. Pure happenstance. I went to look her up and found she abbreviated her career to raise her children.
She certainly wasn't. She unfortunately abandoned her career when she got married, so that's one reason why she's not better known. She was also a contralto and not a soprano, so she was never going to be a prima donna and those are the only ones who achieve any notoriety among the general public.
I appreciate the subtle differentiation between the characters. I normally feel like it has to be much more dramatically done so you can tell the fours voices apart, but I kind of like this. I just love this song so much.
A tremendous voice for this rep; beautiful colours, and pristine clarity of diction and articulation, showing great respect for both music, and the poetry! Thank you for this!
Did you really said the extreme of altos are over an octave higher than Bb2? Not true: in classical music/opera, the repertoire for altos is mostly written from F3 to F5. So....no, the lower extreme of altos is not over an octave higher than Bb2. Actually it is 3.5 notes above Bb2: less than an octave. Keep in mind, that these altos sang in opera houses with no microphone. So their F3 was a very solid, strong note. Did I mention that some songs requires altos to sing E3 and Eb3? So yeah...
I thought I knew my singers but not this one! Eula Beal is impressive and I am familiar with Erlkonig. Wonderful. Thank you for this. Will investigate more of this lady.
People often have a wider range than the standard for their voice type. Voice type depends on more than range, it has to do with tessitura and texture and other things...
Michael Vine You are absolutely right about Ms. Beal singing "Deep River". I know of other performances as good, but none I like better in terms of "authenticity". She takes a song that some think only belongs to black people and sings it with the level of artistry that Marian Anderson brings to Schubert's " Death and the maiden". Amazing.
PLEASE post more of her!! I want to hear her other things. I know there are more out there because I've seen them on t.v. and I really want to hear more of her GORGEOUS voice! :)
A true contralto!!!!!!!She's absolutely magnificent!!!!!!!! Why on earth didn't she catch on? She would have sung a hell of an Erda, Orfeo, and what a Mahler singer she could have been!
Eula Beal mostly retired after the war to focus on motherhood. She sang local performances periodically in the Napa Valley area, but stardom was never of much interest to her. Come to think of it, that might be the reason she sings so well in the first place: she never cared about celebrity or excessive attention.
Her vocal capacities and the big range of the voice remind me of Ernestine Schumann-Heink... It's sad that I learned about Eula Beal just now, a few months after her death...
I guess it's tradition. Contraltos are rare. And the type of contraltos that people expect (the dramatic ones with the darker voices) are even rarer. When contraltos did have roles, they were given bad and often limited roles: witches, bitches or britches as the saying goes.
She sound a bit lighter to consider her a contralto, Rosa Ponselle is heavier than her in comparison and she is a soprano. A pity that Eula didn't dedicated her life to sing, her carrer it's very short, and her repertoire is almost chamber music. Instead she married and had children. :(
로보 티니콜라스 I agree it sounds bright, contralto voices are ones you have to hear in person. There’s a darkening that’s there when you hear that sound in person that these older recordings don’t do much justice to
@@user-en2fx3vl6h Keep in mind, she wasn't even 30 when this filmed (she was born in 1919 and this was filmed in 1947). That's **extremely** young for a contralto. You don't really hear the contralto sound except when she gets to the low Cs. They just have a projection that mezzos and sopranos won't have.
@@taralh1986 I don't agree that contralto voice develop with time, that's not true, listen to Fedora Barbieri 23 years old, when she started to sing heavy things, they were appropriate for her voice with 23 years young!!!
@saxonfield Dunno... I'm a young bass (19 years old) and I was thinking the same about basses... There are less repertory for basses than for tenors or baritone.
Truly excellent performance, Eula Beal would have gone to the absolute top , had she choosen to continue with music performances. She has the artistic projection of understanding the depth of several pieces in "Concert Magic" 1948 performed with Yehudi Menuhin et al.
zva26-She was up there with the very best ever,and yes she did catch on. She decided to abandon a career in opera to be what she really wanted to be,and that was a very contented housewife. I assume that she was too private a person for the spotlight. She remained so.
Ewa Podles is a very rare example indeed even in the extremely low altos. The extreme of altos normally are over an octave higher than Bb2 plus the Bb2 that few altos can reach isn't actually singing and this was also said about Podles
It's the rarity of the voice type dude. And the basses that do show up are shunted into baritones because the ideal bass is the dark, heavy, booming kind.
@allthenamesrtook Hehe! Freaky (apparently) but true. I can actually do A2 when what I call my Brunhilda-foghorn register is warmed up - not breathy and though there's definitely a rumble, it's not merely a growl, it that makes sense. Low C for me is *completely* effortless. I wouldn't think it would be unheard of though. Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls and Tracy Chapman go quite low.
They say she is a mezzo and I kind of believe it cause her voice shines in the upper middle voice as beautiful as I’ve probably ever heard it before by anybody. Her low notes do not sound that androgynous.
It's not that contraltos can never sound feminine, but imagine someone saying "yeah, I'm a bass, I just have a bright voice". It's literally impossible to be a bass and have a voice that isn't heavy and dark. Compare her to Ernestine Schuman-Heinke for example.
The lowest note is not a C#4. The lowest note is a B3 (3:39). And it's anything but unsupported. Darkly cavernous and full. I think you've forgotten that F5 is just the highest, reliable strong note that many altos are capable of. F5 for an alto is like C6 for a soprano...and sopranos zip up and through C6 all the time. Why can't she?
Ju AC , so maybe you are not soprano, but contralto, just didn't learn in right way and sing not in you tessiture?) Some contraltos has soprano high notes but i never heard about sopranos with contralto's notes
tbh, I don't even think she is a contralto (I actually hear soprano), but all of you who are saying her lower register sounds "unsupported" are being absurd. this is a prime example of properly produced chest voice. real chest voice rather than the crushed singing of most modern divas pushing their middle range down into where the chest voice should be.
I hate classical or whatever you would call this. But I'm taking vocal lessons and am being forced to learn this song. This is the best one I've heard so far, since I do not speak German, it's easier to understand her and copy how she pronounces everything. Which is awesome!
@forallyouknow You're absolutely right. This one is made for a man and specially a baritone with many voice colours. Her voice is great anyway but not suitable for this one!!
No mezzo I can think of, possessed a low chest register of this depth & strength. There are basses that can trespass upon baritone notes, & baritones who can sing tenor high C. However, the fach to which a voice naturally belongs, is determined by the tessitura which it can comfortably & easily sustain. Eula Beal may have possessed an exceptional top for a contralto that encompassed mezzo high notes, but the mezzo tessitura was too high for her voice.
@@hiyadroogs of course she is a Mezzo, she does NOT sing low, she has a DEVELOPPED chest register and uses it! today no women has a deelopped chest register, thats why most heavier voices sing a fach lower than they would be in reality. Already Ferrier was never a contralto and Simionato never a Mezzo.
@@contraltissima Beal & Ferrier were both contraltos. Neither had access to the higher tessitura of a true mezzo. Just because neither had the dramatic baritonal chest register of Dame Clara Butt, doesn't make them mezzos. They both had the darker hue of a true contralto, & lacked the ease in the upper register to carry the tessitura of a true mezzo, which is actually a rare voice type. Most mezzos are either contraltos with a very poor chest register development, or sopranos with a very poor head register development. True mezzos are rare, & have considerable agility. In a similar sense, just because Ezio Pinza was a lyric bass who could in younger days undertake a few lower baritone roles, doesn't make his voice a baritone. He lacked the low pitch sonority of a basso profundo, & could sing a fantastic high G of the baritone. But it was a lyric bass, not a baritone, & he possessed the florid agility to confirm it. The very best mezzos can sing a comfortable high C, but it doesn't make them sopranos. The best baritones can sing a comfortable high C, but it doesn't make them tenors. Besides the natural dark or bright colour of a voice, which may determine the lyric or dramatic potential, a voice is largely determined by the tessitura it can comfortably sustain. As a tenor voice, I could sing G above high C, but singing contralto let alone mezzo tessitura would make my nuts fall off! I can also hit bottom C of the true bass, but singing along with Paul Robeson feels like digging my own grave. Fach, is the musical range where the voice is happiest to sit, not its outer extremities.
@@hiyadroogs im sorry but I do not agree. a contralto whos voice is not able to perform a low D3 like Ferrier is not a contralto. the colour has much to do with technique. Liric contraltos are not contraltos, but mezzos or sopranos. A developped contralto is dramatic and the most powerful of all female voice types. Dramatic sopranos go as low or lower than Ferrier. If a voice is really developed you feel everywhere comfortable, you have just not so much power everywhere. But completely developedvoices do not exist today, or at least nor perform on international stages. Ponsell, who was a DEVELOPED dramatic soprano had much better low than Ferrier and I guess also than Beal. The natural relaxed speaking voice says a lot about were your voice is really at home.
@@contraltissima it's absolutely fine that we disagree. Though of course two opposing opinions have never happened before in UA-cam comment section history. But we'll get on with our lives somehow or other. I must clear up a couple of misconceptions however. A great technique does give you an extended facility where the voice doesn't naturally belong, but it certainly doesn't mean that you will be comfortable there, especially if we are speaking of opera. A baritone will never cope with a high tenor tessitura, which is why Melchior, who was a natural baritone with a very good top, could not have sung the Italian tenor repertoire, even though he possessed a seat lifting high C. A tenor will have to force his voice to achieve the depth & power of a baritone against a significant orchestra. Caruso once sang a bass aria for an ailing colleague, but even with his immense richness & sonority, no one would claim that he was any more than a below average bass. As for the contralto fach, there is no such thing as a natural predisposition toward being a dramatic voice simply because your voice is naturally pitched at a given musical altitude. Basses, baritones, & contraltos sing the overwhelming majority of their respective ranges in the chest register, which does indeed predispose them toward a dark hued, rich & sonorous quality of timbre. But power comes from resonance, squillo, & a degree of acquired athleticism, which a singer may not naturally possess nor wish to deploy even if they have it. Often, natural physiology & temperament don't agree, & when they clash, it is always the voice that loses the argument. The opera world is replete with examples of lyric voices being destroyed by owners with a dramatic temperament. Or much rarer, a dramatic voice living safely well inside its potential by its lyrical tempered owner. Plenty of true dramatic tenors lived out their careers as lyric or high voiced dramatic baritones through timidity. A lyric voice can be rapidly developed. But a dramatic voice is like a power lifter. It takes many more years to develop, & it curtails other more preferable qualities, such as lyricism, beauty of tone, range, & agility. Just because you can hit very low pitches, doesn't mean that your voice must be of stentorian loudness. Nor does a thin lyrical timbre mean that your voice lacks decibels. Both Lauri Volpi, who described his own voice as a lyric voice of the theatre, & Francesco Tamagno, who had no hint of baritonal heft in their voices, both had greater power above the stave than Del Monaco ever did. I'm sure you disagree with much or most of what I've written still. But I have enjoyed our discourse. It's nice to speak with someone who is equally passionate and engaged. So thank you for giving me an opportunity to get on my soap box! Best regards
Très bien mais peut-être a t-elle atteint les limites du genre.De très beaux graves ,un petit manque d'animation dans les personnages ,mais c'est loin d' être insignifiant.Je suis prêt à entendre autre chose!
I think the contralto voice has advantages and disadvantages, interpretatively. One the one hand, the voice of das Kind is much more believable and distinguishable; on the other hand, der Erlkönig is not at all menacing. Baritono still wins for me. That said, Eula Beal's interpretation, given her vocal equipments, wants for nothing, and it is plain that she is a first rate performer.
Not bad for a woman. I suppose I'll have to sing Hoffmann's 'Doll Song' now! Anything a women can do, I can do better!! Apart for Yma or Mado Robin; or Dame Joan. Or......... Oh, forget it. Nevertheless you can't beat a good manly voice, be it Pav or Fischer-Dieskau. Apparently, some Heckler at the Spectator thinks Dietrich over-interpreted. Don't you just love critics who can't sing? And wouldn't know a great performance if they heard one. No doubt Callas, the electryfying Callas, just shreiked her way around the stage! Singing with a meat skewer through the cheeks whilst up to the neck in ice cubes wouldn't please these people. They're not into subtely or the sublime. Only DFD can sing Schubert's early song, 'A Morbid Fantasy'. "Eiskalt, Eiskalt..."
She's not a contralto!!! She's a mezzo-soprano! Her low notes are very unsuported! And she goes too high too many times!! Whate the hell? The lowest note is a C#4, a C#4 and sounds unsupported, contraltos can at least sing a Bb3 without any effort!! Plus she rises to an F5 about three times int the song!! Contraltos have only one more note than that. She's not a real contralto
Incredible, nobody here has said a word about this wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL pianist! Fantastic technique, great musician, she deserves much more attention!!!
Charles Rosen wrote that the accompaniment to this song is one of the hardest pieces for pianists in the romantic repertoire. On a piano with a Viennese action, it may have been easier, but given that we accompanists don't have period instruments, he made a valid point, I think.
Your comment is warming my heart!
@Ang Are you an idiot or just mentally sic?
@이이잉 Please... 😑
Her voice sounds like the taste of melted dark chocolate and I love it! If velvet could sing, it would sound like Ms. Beal. And I love her little smile at the end :D
My God,what a voice! And a genuine contralto,not a mezzo. What a loss for us opera lovers when this absolutely superb singer retired at a young age to raise a family.But its great that we have these old film clips to truly appreciate her voice. Grazie mille for sharing this with us.
no, its a Mezzo! Its not low, she just uses her well developped chest voice, she was really a great singer but not a real contralto. Like Ferrier was NEVER a true contralto, by the way, technically Beal is much better than Ferrier. Muffled and woofy and no high notes does not mean one is a contralto.
@@contraltissima saying Ferrier had a bad technique and wasn't a contralto It's like saying Bach wasn't a good musician and he couldn't play clavicembalo, it's nonsense but nowadays on UA-cam you can read anything, everybody is an expert
@@fulvioarborio9578 Ferrier had bad technique and couldn't really hack it in opera, which is why she whispered concert rep instead.
@@contraltissima you’re insane 🤡
@@contraltissimaIs it not possible for a contralto to have well developed mixed/head voice? The other legendary contraltos of the golden age had well developed upper registers, like Marian Anderson and Madamme Ernestine Schumann-Heink.
Oh my goodness....what a Stradivarius of a voice. Gorgeous. Thanks you for sharing.
Yes, no doubt she did.
God, what an artist. Great singers are not always the ones most known to the public. I believe Ms. Beal was not hungry for the spotlight.
But we are certainly hungry for her
So true. I accidentally heard a recording when living in the Chicago area where there was an arts Channel. Pure happenstance. I went to look her up and found she abbreviated her career to raise her children.
She certainly wasn't. She unfortunately abandoned her career when she got married, so that's one reason why she's not better known. She was also a contralto and not a soprano, so she was never going to be a prima donna and those are the only ones who achieve any notoriety among the general public.
Okay, clearly Ms. Marguerite Campbell is a BEAST before God and country! (Listen to that right hand!!!! And and piano dynamic, too?!?!)
Her German is terrific, too.
Absolutely amazing!
I agree, and can sing it so fast too. Wow.
yep, fantastic for an american
@@slavicmapping5262 if only you’re English was as good as her German. 🤡
Beautiful voice and expression and perfect German pronunciation. Brava
I appreciate the subtle differentiation between the characters. I normally feel like it has to be much more dramatically done so you can tell the fours voices apart, but I kind of like this.
I just love this song so much.
Both the singer and the pianist are excellent!
Vocally and physically beautiful.
A tremendous voice for this rep; beautiful colours, and pristine clarity of diction and articulation, showing great respect for both music, and the poetry! Thank you for this!
What a wonderful voice - and superb accompaniment. Super performance, thank you.
Superb, just superb! Effortless and changes between the colours of her voice to go with the text. What a range of expression, this is unsurpassable!
I've never heard anything more awesome and beautifully awesome
I love the way she uses the two registers low and middle voice ( head voice ) so effortlessly….. good coordinated falsetto I’m impressed
Himmlisch! Göttlich !
Did you really said the extreme of altos are over an octave higher than Bb2?
Not true: in classical music/opera, the repertoire for altos is mostly written from F3 to F5. So....no, the lower extreme of altos is not over an octave higher than Bb2. Actually it is 3.5 notes above Bb2: less than an octave.
Keep in mind, that these altos sang in opera houses with no microphone. So their F3 was a very solid, strong note. Did I mention that some songs requires altos to sing E3 and Eb3? So yeah...
Fantastic permformance! Her diction is crystal clear.
I gotta love her voice 😍
I thought I knew my singers but not this one! Eula Beal is impressive and I
am familiar with Erlkonig. Wonderful. Thank you for this. Will investigate
more of this lady.
Unforgettable voice! Thank you
lost-and-found masterpiece :o....ICONIC!
Incredibly great. One of the truly great voices. The intonation is impeccable.
Very beautiful.
Beautiful voioce! Love this song!
Por fin otra audición de este lied formidable y exigente.
Thanks for posting this! I didn´t know this wonderful singer. Her voice reminds me of the smoothness of velvet.
FANTASTIC....CHANGEMENT OF COLOURS OF THE VOICE..INCREDIBLE..SO EASY...WHAT AN ARTIST !
AWESOME!!! JUST AWESOME!!!!!
People often have a wider range than the standard for their voice type. Voice type depends on more than range, it has to do with tessitura and texture and other things...
YES
Какой невероятный, волшебный голос! Наслаждение! Ничего о ней не знала, к сожалению
Gorgeous! Brava! TY.
Now, who among us can find that recording of her singing "Deep River"? It is second to NONE! (I mean, Heifer river deeeep!!!)
Michael Vine
You are absolutely right about Ms. Beal singing "Deep River". I know of other performances as good, but none I like better in terms of "authenticity". She takes a song that some think only belongs to black people and sings it with the level of artistry that Marian Anderson brings to Schubert's " Death and the maiden". Amazing.
Michael Vine I think Deep River in German turns out to be Tieffes waser.
PLEASE post more of her!! I want to hear her other things. I know there are more out there because I've seen them on t.v. and I really want to hear more of her GORGEOUS voice! :)
Sehr schön!
A true contralto!!!!!!!She's absolutely magnificent!!!!!!!!
Why on earth didn't she catch on? She would have sung a hell of an Erda, Orfeo, and what a Mahler singer she could have been!
Larry Mitchell she could have sung some dramatic mezzo stuff too I think
I wish she sang the Orfeo aria.
Eula Beal mostly retired after the war to focus on motherhood. She sang local performances periodically in the Napa Valley area, but stardom was never of much interest to her. Come to think of it, that might be the reason she sings so well in the first place: she never cared about celebrity or excessive attention.
What an artist......!!!!
wonderful voice
Beautiful sound and a singer I’d not heard before. Going in search of her appearances.
Can’t help but LOL at 1:16 when the Erlking comes in, luring the dying child into his wonderland.
magnifique !!! et la pianiste aussi!!
Her vocal capacities and the big range of the voice remind me of Ernestine Schumann-Heink...
It's sad that I learned about Eula Beal just now, a few months after her death...
wat een goede uitbeelding van de tekst !
Stupenda davvero
HERMOSA VOZ I LIKE IT
Meravigliosa
great!!!!!!!!!
пианистка отличная )))))
I guess it's tradition.
Contraltos are rare. And the type of contraltos that people expect (the dramatic ones with the darker voices) are even rarer. When contraltos did have roles, they were given bad and often limited roles: witches, bitches or britches as the saying goes.
She sound a bit lighter to consider her a contralto, Rosa Ponselle is heavier than her in comparison and she is a soprano. A pity that Eula didn't dedicated her life to sing, her carrer it's very short, and her repertoire is almost chamber music. Instead she married and had children. :(
로보 티니콜라스 I agree it sounds bright, contralto voices are ones you have to hear in person. There’s a darkening that’s there when you hear that sound in person that these older recordings don’t do much justice to
@@user-en2fx3vl6h Keep in mind, she wasn't even 30 when this filmed (she was born in 1919 and this was filmed in 1947). That's **extremely** young for a contralto. You don't really hear the contralto sound except when she gets to the low Cs. They just have a projection that mezzos and sopranos won't have.
@@taralh1986 I don't agree that contralto voice develop with time, that's not true, listen to Fedora Barbieri 23 years old, when she started to sing heavy things, they were appropriate for her voice with 23 years young!!!
" they were given bad and often limited roles"
I mean...if you consider Azucena, Amneris and Arsace to be "boring and limited roles".
@saxonfield Dunno... I'm a young bass (19 years old) and I was thinking the same about basses... There are less repertory for basses than for tenors or baritone.
@RPDLTS she is 100% a contralto, she just doesnt have the standard contralto range, hers is slightly higher, there is no doubt that shes a contralto
Listen at her low notes. Very Dark, and firm.
Actually she does.
She is a mezzo
Bravo
Uff!
Truly excellent performance, Eula Beal would
have gone to the absolute top , had she choosen to continue with music performances. She has
the artistic projection of understanding the
depth of several pieces in "Concert Magic" 1948
performed with Yehudi Menuhin et al.
zva26-She was up there with the very best ever,and yes she did catch on. She decided to abandon a career in opera to be what she really wanted to be,and that was a very contented housewife. I assume that she was too private a person for the spotlight. She remained so.
I fully agree. Don't you think this would make a faboulous duet?
@saxonfield you are right :)
지금 이렇게라도 그녀를 알게 되어서 감사합니다
@RPDLTS Listen to her version of "None but the Lonely Heart."
The first few three of you who commented must be the only three people I know how to appreciate her singing.
Ewa Podles is a very rare example indeed even in the extremely low altos. The extreme of altos normally are over an octave higher than Bb2 plus the Bb2 that few altos can reach isn't actually singing and this was also said about Podles
It's the rarity of the voice type dude. And the basses that do show up are shunted into baritones because the ideal bass is the dark, heavy, booming kind.
What year was this video?
@allthenamesrtook Hehe! Freaky (apparently) but true. I can actually do A2 when what I call my Brunhilda-foghorn register is warmed up - not breathy and though there's definitely a rumble, it's not merely a growl, it that makes sense. Low C for me is *completely* effortless. I wouldn't think it would be unheard of though. Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls and Tracy Chapman go quite low.
I go as low as G2.
Well, early in the morning. Easy.
Simple Ms Beal.
My range yet i am killing myselg trying to sing popular songs with my contralto voice
xxxyyyxxx Adapting the note or finding a genre which doesn't "require" that much agility/need to reach notes really high helps a lot.
@saxonfield: Altos seem to be more welcome in symphonies and lieder; and don't forget Carmen!
They say she is a mezzo and I kind of believe it cause her voice shines in the upper middle voice as beautiful as I’ve probably ever heard it before by anybody. Her low notes do not sound that androgynous.
Agreed, maybe even a soprano. Contraltos sound like men in the chest register (ex: Nathalie Stutzman).
@@jasonblack4208 Not necessarily lol
It's not that contraltos can never sound feminine, but imagine someone saying "yeah, I'm a bass, I just have a bright voice". It's literally impossible to be a bass and have a voice that isn't heavy and dark. Compare her to Ernestine Schuman-Heinke for example.
@@jasonblack4208
I get it. But look at Nathalie. She talks like a man, but imho her singing makes her voice way more feminine.
DOES ANYONE KNOW THIS IN ENGLISH?
haha cool accent ;)
Das soll ein Contralto sein?
Ja!
Yes, she was one of the best ever.
The lowest note is not a C#4. The lowest note is a B3 (3:39). And it's anything but unsupported. Darkly cavernous and full.
I think you've forgotten that F5 is just the highest, reliable strong note that many altos are capable of. F5 for an alto is like C6 for a soprano...and sopranos zip up and through C6 all the time.
Why can't she?
She doesn't sounds like a contralto, I'm a soprano I have low notes as if I was a man, lol
Ju AC , so maybe you are not soprano, but contralto, just didn't learn in right way and sing not in you tessiture?) Some contraltos has soprano high notes but i never heard about sopranos with contralto's notes
@@yuliana703 look up Rosa Ponselle
No, she's a contralto.
@@yuliana703 they do, they're just rounder, darker, and woodier.
@@grobanite4ever85 yeah, she can sing D3 easily.
tbh, I don't even think she is a contralto (I actually hear soprano), but all of you who are saying her lower register sounds "unsupported" are being absurd. this is a prime example of properly produced chest voice. real chest voice rather than the crushed singing of most modern divas pushing their middle range down into where the chest voice should be.
@trueeyore ok then, there is no way you can actually SING that low, and both of them go down to just above C3,
I hate classical or whatever you would call this. But I'm taking vocal lessons and am being forced to learn this song. This is the best one I've heard so far, since I do not speak German, it's easier to understand her and copy how she pronounces everything. Which is awesome!
So much better than dieskau
@forallyouknow You're absolutely right. This one is made for a man and specially a baritone with many voice colours. Her voice is great anyway but not suitable for this one!!
I also think that this aria should be for baritones.
She's not a contralto!!! She's a mezzo-soprano!
It's more of a mezzo.
No mezzo I can think of, possessed a low chest register of this depth & strength. There are basses that can trespass upon baritone notes, & baritones who can sing tenor high C. However, the fach to which a voice naturally belongs, is determined by the tessitura which it can comfortably & easily sustain. Eula Beal may have possessed an exceptional top for a contralto that encompassed mezzo high notes, but the mezzo tessitura was too high for her voice.
@@hiyadroogs of course she is a Mezzo, she does NOT sing low, she has a DEVELOPPED chest register and uses it! today no women has a deelopped chest register, thats why most heavier voices sing a fach lower than they would be in reality. Already Ferrier was never a contralto and Simionato never a Mezzo.
@@contraltissima Beal & Ferrier were both contraltos. Neither had access to the higher tessitura of a true mezzo. Just because neither had the dramatic baritonal chest register of Dame Clara Butt, doesn't make them mezzos. They both had the darker hue of a true contralto, & lacked the ease in the upper register to carry the tessitura of a true mezzo, which is actually a rare voice type. Most mezzos are either contraltos with a very poor chest register development, or sopranos with a very poor head register development. True mezzos are rare, & have considerable agility. In a similar sense, just because Ezio Pinza was a lyric bass who could in younger days undertake a few lower baritone roles, doesn't make his voice a baritone. He lacked the low pitch sonority of a basso profundo, & could sing a fantastic high G of the baritone. But it was a lyric bass, not a baritone, & he possessed the florid agility to confirm it. The very best mezzos can sing a comfortable high C, but it doesn't make them sopranos. The best baritones can sing a comfortable high C, but it doesn't make them tenors. Besides the natural dark or bright colour of a voice, which may determine the lyric or dramatic potential, a voice is largely determined by the tessitura it can comfortably sustain. As a tenor voice, I could sing G above high C, but singing contralto let alone mezzo tessitura would make my nuts fall off! I can also hit bottom C of the true bass, but singing along with Paul Robeson feels like digging my own grave. Fach, is the musical range where the voice is happiest to sit, not its outer extremities.
@@hiyadroogs im sorry but I do not agree. a contralto whos voice is not able to perform a low D3 like Ferrier is not a contralto. the colour has much to do with technique. Liric contraltos are not contraltos, but mezzos or sopranos. A developped contralto is dramatic and the most powerful of all female voice types. Dramatic sopranos go as low or lower than Ferrier. If a voice is really developed you feel everywhere comfortable, you have just not so much power everywhere. But completely developedvoices do not exist today, or at least nor perform on international stages. Ponsell, who was a DEVELOPED dramatic soprano had much better low than Ferrier and I guess also than Beal. The natural relaxed speaking voice says a lot about were your voice is really at home.
@@contraltissima it's absolutely fine that we disagree. Though of course two opposing opinions have never happened before in UA-cam comment section history. But we'll get on with our lives somehow or other. I must clear up a couple of misconceptions however. A great technique does give you an extended facility where the voice doesn't naturally belong, but it certainly doesn't mean that you will be comfortable there, especially if we are speaking of opera. A baritone will never cope with a high tenor tessitura, which is why Melchior, who was a natural baritone with a very good top, could not have sung the Italian tenor repertoire, even though he possessed a seat lifting high C. A tenor will have to force his voice to achieve the depth & power of a baritone against a significant orchestra. Caruso once sang a bass aria for an ailing colleague, but even with his immense richness & sonority, no one would claim that he was any more than a below average bass. As for the contralto fach, there is no such thing as a natural predisposition toward being a dramatic voice simply because your voice is naturally pitched at a given musical altitude. Basses, baritones, & contraltos sing the overwhelming majority of their respective ranges in the chest register, which does indeed predispose them toward a dark hued, rich & sonorous quality of timbre. But power comes from resonance, squillo, & a degree of acquired athleticism, which a singer may not naturally possess nor wish to deploy even if they have it. Often, natural physiology & temperament don't agree, & when they clash, it is always the voice that loses the argument. The opera world is replete with examples of lyric voices being destroyed by owners with a dramatic temperament. Or much rarer, a dramatic voice living safely well inside its potential by its lyrical tempered owner. Plenty of true dramatic tenors lived out their careers as lyric or high voiced dramatic baritones through timidity. A lyric voice can be rapidly developed. But a dramatic voice is like a power lifter. It takes many more years to develop, & it curtails other more preferable qualities, such as lyricism, beauty of tone, range, & agility. Just because you can hit very low pitches, doesn't mean that your voice must be of stentorian loudness. Nor does a thin lyrical timbre mean that your voice lacks decibels. Both Lauri Volpi, who described his own voice as a lyric voice of the theatre, & Francesco Tamagno, who had no hint of baritonal heft in their voices, both had greater power above the stave than Del Monaco ever did. I'm sure you disagree with much or most of what I've written still. But I have enjoyed our discourse. It's nice to speak with someone who is equally passionate and engaged. So thank you for giving me an opportunity to get on my soap box! Best regards
more a mezzo, but great singing!
Yep, she was a mezzo with a well developed chest voice that produces the low notes!
Oh lord, not Orfeo - that role belongs to countertenors and castrati. But for Erda - I agree.
Très bien mais peut-être a t-elle atteint les limites du genre.De très beaux graves ,un petit manque d'animation dans les personnages ,mais c'est loin d' être insignifiant.Je suis prêt à entendre autre chose!
Sentito meglio …
I think the contralto voice has advantages and disadvantages, interpretatively. One the one hand, the voice of das Kind is much more believable and distinguishable; on the other hand, der Erlkönig is not at all menacing. Baritono still wins for me. That said, Eula Beal's interpretation, given her vocal equipments, wants for nothing, and it is plain that she is a first rate performer.
Not the best piece for her voice, nor as good as her performance of 'Ave Maria'. This piece sounds better sung by a male voice.
Not bad for a woman.
I suppose I'll have to sing Hoffmann's 'Doll Song' now! Anything a women can do, I can do better!! Apart for Yma or Mado Robin; or Dame Joan. Or......... Oh, forget it. Nevertheless you can't beat a good manly voice, be it Pav or Fischer-Dieskau. Apparently, some Heckler at the Spectator thinks Dietrich over-interpreted. Don't you just love critics who can't sing? And wouldn't know a great performance if they heard one. No doubt Callas, the electryfying Callas, just shreiked her way around the stage! Singing with a meat skewer through the cheeks whilst up to the neck in ice cubes wouldn't please these people. They're not into subtely or the sublime. Only DFD can sing Schubert's early song, 'A Morbid Fantasy'.
"Eiskalt, Eiskalt..."
Are you on drugs ?
Wait, what? Never mind, Imma ignore trolls
ASS!
She's not a contralto!!! She's a mezzo-soprano! Her low notes are very unsuported! And she goes too high too many times!! Whate the hell? The lowest note is a C#4, a C#4 and sounds unsupported, contraltos can at least sing a Bb3 without any effort!! Plus she rises to an F5 about three times int the song!! Contraltos have only one more note than that. She's not a real contralto